Create EC2 AMI from Bash Script; Good for cron jobs

crontab file

PATH=/bin:/usr/local/bin

# Put this in your crontab file to run the script every day at 01:30 (1:30am). Note the PATH variable above; required for this script.

# m h  dom mon dow   command
30 01 * * * /bin/bash /home/ubuntu/scripts/ec2-create-image.sh i-8a915682 >> /home/ubuntu/logs/crontab.log 2>&1

ec2-create-image.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

#
# @Purpose 		Creates an image (AMI) of the given EC2 instance
# @Background 	Meant to be run as a cronjob. Requires that awscli is installed. Assumes that the 
# instance running this command has the permission ec2:CreateImage assigned via IAM.
#
# @Usage: 		ec2-create-image <instance-id>
#

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M) 
AMI_NAME="Wordpress Backup - $DATE"
AMI_DESCRIPTION="Wordpress Backup - $DATE"
INSTANCE_ID=$1

printf "Requesting AMI for instance $1...\n"
aws ec2 create-image --instance-id $1 --name "$AMI_NAME" --description "$AMI_DESCRIPTION" --no-reboot

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
	printf "AMI request complete!\n"
fi

Sorry if this is off-topic, but does anyone know of a script to deregister the AMI's and delete the associated snapshots/volumes after a given period of time (say 30 days)? It appears there is a snapshot life cycle policy on the console, but you cannot delete a snapshot until the ami is deregistered.

The only solution I can think of is, naming each image chronologically 1 though N and deregistering all images that are named greater than N. Any thoughts?

Hi tln8679, I came across this article that might help you out:

https://n2ws.com/blog/how-to-guides/how-to-delete-unutilized-ebs-based-amis-and-corresponding-snapshots